Rare baby camel makes first appearance at Budapest Zoo

Rare baby camel: Born on April 9, a wild Bactrian camel named 'Ilias' was seen with his eight-year-old mother at the Budapest Zoo. Unlike Arabian camels, which have a single hump, Bactrian camels have two humps and are an endangered lot.

Princess, left, a Bactrian camel famous for her ability to correctly predict the winner of football games, stands with John Bergmann, general manager of Popcorn Park Zoo in Lacey Township, N.J., in 2012 . A baby wild Bactrian camel named Ilias made his first appearance at Hungary's Budapest Zoo on Tuesday.

"When he was born there were problems, the baby was looking for milk from the mother, but as this was her first baby she had no experience," Zoltan Hanga, a spokesperson for Budapest Zoo told AFP. "Us zookeepers had to hold down the mother and gently help the baby to feed."

Unlike Arabian camels, which have a single hump, Bactrian camels have two humps. Wild Bactrian camels are found in the Gobi and Gashun Gobi deserts of northwest China and Mongolia where vegetation is sparse, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) red list of threatened species.

“Due to the reduction in water points (oases) because of drought, wolves have increased their predation of Wild Bactrian Camels. This activity is concentrated at the remaining water points in the area. The remaining habitat in Mongolia is also being degraded by domestic livestock,” according to IUCN. The animals are also killed for food and sport.

There population has been dwindling with the total number of species standing at slightly more than 900. But official estimates could be even lower.